RATING: ★★★★☆
As you might remember, I reviewed Pevato's Firefly earlier last year - one of the first professional reviews I did - and was not fully convinced by the story. I could tell that P.M. Pevato was a talented writer, but the story was flawed in certain ways that obstructed the reading.
Now I read a recent short story by Pevato that is part of the Short And Happy (Or Not) anthology. Though I browsed all the stories (and they all look pretty great!), I really wanted to focus this review on The First Coven, since I was amazed by the growth of Pevato as an author.
The First Coven starts off like a fairytale; once upon a time there was a farmer who had three daughters and desperately wanted a son. His wife delivers a son but dies during labour. This sounds pretty standard fairytale-ish right? But then there is a twist. The daughters turn to witch craft in an attempt to awaken their mother from the dead. That is not exactly the Grimm fairytale we are all used to.
And that's exactly what I loved about this story - it was so different. I expected one thing, but the twists constantly took the plot in a new direction. If you like fairytales and magical elements, you will adore this story.
Where I previously critiqued Pevato's writing, I thoroughly enjoyed her writing this time. She used fairytale elements to really bring her story to live and to keep the reader interested. It was an amazing read and since it is a really short story, I don't see any reason as to why you shouldn't be reading it right now.